According to the January 9, 2024 U.S. Drought Monitor, moderate to exceptional drought covers 26.7% of the United States including Puerto Rico, a decrease from last week’s 27.6%. The worst drought categories (extreme to exceptional drought) decreased from 5.3% last week to 4.5%.
A series of powerful upper-level weather systems moved across the contiguous U.S. during this U.S. Drought Monitor week (January 3–9). These Pacific storm systems spread rain and snow across the Pacific Northwest before they plummeted southward across the Four Corners states. They tapped Gulf of Mexico moisture as they moved across the southern Plains, then drew in Atlantic moisture as their cold fronts and surface low-pressure centers moved across the Midwest or up the Eastern Seaboard.
Weekly precipitation totals were above normal along their path from the Pacific Northwest to the Southwest, over the southern to central Plains, from the Ohio Valley to the Gulf of Mexico, and from the southern Appalachians to the Mid-Atlantic coast. The southerly track of the weather systems brought cooler-than-normal weekly temperatures to the southern tier states as well as much of the West. This track left northern tier states mostly warmer and drier than normal for the week. The storm track stayed mostly north of the Mexican border, so California to the Rio Grande Valley were also drier than normal.
High pressure dominated the Caribbean, keeping the week warmer and drier than normal in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Drought or abnormal dryness contracted or was reduced in intensity over parts of Washington state, the southern to central Great Plains, and the Deep South to the Mid-Atlantic states. Drought or abnormal dryness expanded or intensified in areas that have seen persistently dry conditions, especially in parts of the northern to central Rockies, Arizona, and Puerto Rico.
Nationally, contraction was more than expansion, so the nationwide moderate to exceptional drought area decreased this week. Abnormal dryness and drought are currently affecting over 111 million people across the United States including Puerto Rico—about 35.7% of the population.
The full U.S. Drought Monitor weekly update is available from Drought.gov.
In addition to Drought.gov, you can find further information on the current drought as well as on this week’s Drought Monitor update at the National Drought Mitigation Center
The most recent U.S. Drought Outlook is available from NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center and the U.S. Department of Agriculture provides information about the drought’s influence on crops and livestock.
For additional drought information, follow #DroughtMonitor on Facebook and Twitter.
